Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
by Yorae Rasante
Summary: And the angels are all in heaven, but few of the fools are dead. While reading the Forbidden Scroll, Naruto reads an extra entry and unlocks a power considered lost. Is it a coincidence, or does the awakening of a Persona user forewarns a disaster once more?
1. Awakening the Persona

"What are we doing here, daddy?" the blonde asked, worried for the person on the other side of the one-way mirror. There, dressed in his customary orange jacket and pants, was another blond of her class, whisker marks plainly visible.  
>Yes, she barely talked with the boy, but he was still her classmate.<p>

"How is your relationship with him, Ino?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked seriously. It was clear something serious had happened to the boy, since her father was never that serious around her.

But… why was the boy himself looking calmer than she had ever seen him before?

"Inexistent." Ino said, trying to act professional. She was a genin now, and she was clearly expected to act as one for now from her father's actions. "All I know about him is that he has a crush on Sakura, plays pranks and was doing badly in class. Everything else is hearsay."

"Tell me this hearsay." Inoichi requested, still in a neutral tone.

"That he is an orphan. That he is a bad person and should be avoided. That he has anger problems and everyone should avoid making him angry. Personally I don't believe in anything but the orphan part. He was too much of a happy clown all the time we have been in the same class to believe he can be like that."

Inoichi just nodded. "He is an orphan, yes. However, there is a deeper reason for his 'happy clown' antics, as you put them."

Ino blinked. She… never thought much about what could be behind his actions. Something she would probably feel bad for later, since Yamanakas were supposed to be specialists in the mind.

"And how do your classmates respond to this?"

"They usually avoid him. Some say nasty words to drive him away from them. Sakura is sometimes physical in her rejections when he asks her on dates, but usually just avoids him too."

"Funny, in my time being considered a 'bad boy that should be avoided' would get him lots of girls." Her father said jokingly. "And you?" he asked after a cough.

"I was neutral to him. Didn't avoid but didn't try to become friends either. Some words of chastisement when he landed the whole class in trouble with his pranks, tops."

"I see." She didn't hear disappointment in his voice, but didn't hear approval either.

"Tell me Ino, when you get that treatment you described, and without a family to turn to, how would you feel?"

"…lonely…" Ino replied, a little ashamed. "Would try to do something to get some attention."

"Even being laughed at or screamed at was probably good enough for him." Inoichi agreed.

"So that's hy he was the class clown…"

But how was this related to…

"Daddy, did he do something bad for attention? Something… nastier than pranks?"

"Many would." He replied, looking at the boy. "But not him. No, his problem was that _someone_ gave him attention."

Her stomach fell like a stone. She wasn't the most attentive of people, but she was always trying to stop any bullying. It is how she initially became friends with Sakura. Avoidance was one thing, but…

"Positive attention."

The shame subsided, but her blood still ran hot.

Manipulation.

Someone tried to manipulate him into doing something bad for approval.

"Who was it? What did they make him do?"

"Your ex-teacher Touji Mizuki. Convinced him to steal the Scroll of Forbidden Seals from the Hokage under the excuse of it being part of a substitute test for graduating."

"What will happen to him?" Her heart went to Naruto. He was a bit annoying with his pranks, but now she saw his reason for doing them. Also, they had always been taught to trust their teachers, having this trust betrayed like that…

"Well, he succeeded in stealing the scroll from the Hokage himself, under what he believed to be orders, so the Hokage would have considered this as enough for graduating as a future infiltration specialist. Touji was arrested thanks to your other teacher, Umino Iruka, who assisted Naruto-kun."

"Uh, daddy, don't you mean Naruto assisted Umino-sensei?"

Inoichi gave her a joking smile. "The other reason he graduated."

Ino was… to surprised was putting it mildly. Naruto defeated Mizuki-sen—Mizuki by himself? Even with some assistance that was impressive…

"But why tell me daddy? Why bring me here?"

"Because of what he did after it." Inoichi replied. "Touji's lie also included a way to avoid Naruto telling anyone about it until he had time to steal the scroll from him: Naruto had to learn at least one jutsu from the scroll before being found by another teacher."

"That's impossible. Even if he succeeded, they are dangerous!"

"Which is what Touji was going for. But it bit him back, for Naruto-kun succeeded not once, but twice."

The girl was surprised. Naruto, amongst the worse of the class, learned not one, but two techniques in a couple of hours? And if they had been sealed they weren't your run-of-the-mill techniques either…

"The first was a solid clone technique that takes a lot from the user. He used it masterfully to defeat Mizuki…"

Ino blinked. He defeated a chuunin with… clones?

"And after getting home, to perform the second one."

She stiffened. Finally, the reason she was there.

"He summoned his Persona."

Ino turned quickly to the boy. The boy sitting more in peace than she ever saw him do.

Inoichi knew he didn't need to say anything else.

"A-are you sure he is sane?"

"Yes. He was successful. Which is why you are here. We feel he would be more comfortable talking about it with someone his own age."

She took a deep breath, preparing herself mentally. It was hard to believe that, after all the Yamanakas that failed the Persona Summoning Ritual…

IIIII

Naruto was bored. He had already told everything that happened to the old man Hokage, why was he still waiting there?

Because the people that created the ritual deserve to know about it, yeah… He still felt like a prisoner though.

He briefly wondered what would happen if they disapproved of him, would the little guy be locked away again? _Could_ it be locked away again? What would happen to his mind if they did this?

All these thoughts and many more went through his mind as he resisted the urge to summon his persona. It was a bit tiring, but he felt much more comfortable with it around.

And then, she entered the room.

"Ino? What are you doing here?"

The blond girl entered quietly, a white labcoat covering her usually purple clothes, a clipboard on her hand. A small smile was on her lips, but her pale complexion made it clear it was as much for her nerves as to calm him.

"Hello Naruto. I'm... well, I'm a Yamanaka, and we are sort of the head specialists on the village, so… that is…"

"So you are the village shrinks and you are going to examine me?" he said, trying to help.

"Yeah, so…"

Ino was nervous. She knew that. And Naruto clearly noticed it from the frown on his face.

"Ino, are you alright? You're not acting like yourself."

"Y-yes, I mean…" she took a deep breath, before admitting: "No, no I'm not alright. This is my first time talking with someone professionally like this that is not my father, he is watching me make a fool of myself, and you probably have no idea how important what you did is for my clan, do you?"

"Sorry," he admitted, scratching the back of his head while smiling, "not a clue."

Ino couldn't resist it, she sighed.

"Naruto, through the years, tens of Yamanakas tried doing what you did, and each and every time they failed, many going mad and violent in the process."

"Uhm, sorry, I didn't do anything special, just followed the instructions…"

Ino sighed, putting her face between her hands in frustration.

"Look, maybe if you give me a list of questions, I could try it again and—"

"No!" Ino screamed, jumping from her seat. "Are you crazy? What did I just say about people going mad doing it?"

"But how else am I going to be able to talk to that Igor guy again? I mean, he did say we were somewhere between awake and asleep, but—"

"Wait! Back up! Who?"

"The guy that we talk to when we use the ritual? Well, more like are sent to him from what he said, but... Man, it's hard to explain." He started scratching the back of his head again, trying to force himself to put in words what happened.

"Tell me everything that happened when you did it." Ino ordered, grabbing her pen and clipboard tightly. "_Everything!_"

"Ok, ok, geez…"

IIIII

So, I had just finished learning the Kage Bunshin, you see, and was going to train with it so it was perfect… but while I was rerolling the scroll, I saw the description for this ritual thing. It seemed very easy, and… Well, I had just learned Kage Bunshin, so I thought "why not"?

I was going to try it when Iruka sensei appeared, so I forgot it for a while… But then I got home and couldn't sleep with all that happened, and then remembered that I never did do it. So, I jumped up and tried it.

I had to be relaxed, so I tried that leaf exercise they give us at the beginning of the academy. It always made me a bit sleepy… Well, before falling asleep, I did the technique.

At first nothing happened, but then after a while I felt something like a shock, and something pulling on my head, hard! Next thing I saw was darkness.

When I woke up, I was inside something that looked like a sewer. There were walls made of stone bricks and water reaching past my ankles. The water was clean though, and there were yellow lights here and there. So, having no idea what happened, I started walking…

It was a labyrinth.

Eventally, I reached a big room, the only place that wasn't more tunnels for hours, so I was pretty sure there was going to be an exit there. That's when I heard his voice…

"It's useless."

Or rather, _my_ voice.

I turned around, surprised, and saw another me. Me as I was when I was younger.

"Who… who are you?" I asked, but I already knew.

Well, his answer still surprised me.

"I am you. The real you.  
>I am a shadow. The true self."<p>

"O…kay… And what are you doing here?"

"Me?" my shadow asked, he seemed surprised. "I live here. You are the one that came to me."

"Oh… right. Something about that jutsu to unleash my true self in battle or something?"

"Yes… Like you could." He said, laughing at me.

"What you say? You of all people are underestimating me too?"

"What is there to underestimate? You suck and you know it!" I admit, that coming from him stung me a bit, but I learned to deal with it. But what I didn't expect was for him to say "See? This is what I am talking about!"

"What _are_ you talking about?"

"How you'd rather hide your true self here to pretend there is no problem. How you plaster that smile on your face like a mask to pretend you are not hurt by the way everyone treates you. How you scream you are going to be Hokage even though you know you are a terrible ninja.  
>How you pretend you don't want to make everyone around you suffer like you do."<p>

I held my breath. Not because he was right, I couldn't deny it, but because… well, as I said to him,

"This is the most stupid thing I ever heard."

The little guy was acting like I struck him, but then started smiling. It was creepy.

"So you deny it? Even you deny me?"

I held my breath, how to explain it? The guy claimed to be me, but if he was he would already know, right?

But for some reason, I felt that it coming from me was much more important than just knowing it.

"Look, I won't deny I hate how I am treated by everyone. How my actions are fake many times so people don't know how much it hurts when they ignore me. How for a while I wanted them to suffer for how sad they made me. But…  
>But if I go that route, they win. They'd be justified in what they did. And I got someone that believes in me now. By doing that, I'd just throw that trust away.<br>It is not that I deny what you said. But… I decided to keep going forward, despite that. Or maybe because of that. Become better than anyone. Shove in the faces of those that made me suffer how I am better than them. You know what I'm saying?"

It was silent. Like the kid was trying to swallow what I said. Then he gave me a sad smile.

"This was supposed to be a battle of wills."

"Uh?" was the only thing I could say.

"But you already won."

I didn't understand anything anymore. The next thing I remember, the kid…transformed and entered me.

Then a flash of light, and I was inside a blue room.

It was like a bar, with a singing woman and a piano. And in the middle, there was a table with a free chair in front of a man.

This man, he had a long nose, and seemed to be a bit hunchback. His eyes were big, too. But… I just knew he wasn't a bad person. So I sat in front of him.

He was _really_ polite. He bid me welcome and said it was a pleasure to meet me. He said his name was Igor, and that that place existed between "dream and reality, mind and matter".

I didn't get it, but he said that was fine for now.

He said I now could summon my Persona, a manifestation of my psyche.

Well, he then said people lived by wearing masks, and that people wear those masks when going through hard times. And... that I now had the power to summon my mask. My Persona.

Then he said my power was weak.

I couldn't argue, since I had no idea what power that was. Still don't, even if I can use it now.

Still tried to, though.

So he laughed, and just said my power would grow as I dealt with other people.

Then… he sent me back. Said that I would go back by myself next time we met, but I have no idea how, so…

IIIII

After that, they just sit there quietly, not knowing much how to say.

"So… you got the ultimate Yamanaka hiden: summoning your Persona… through meeting your shadow and accepting it."

"Seems like it." Naruto answered.

"Makes sense so many people failed then. It was your dark side, all that you dislike about yourself and try to hide away, personified. I… don't think many would just accept it."

"Probaly. He seemed really surprised I got along with him so easily, seemed like he was trying to bully me into a fight."

Ino nodded. Made sense, the shadow had said it should have been a battle of wills. Probably a battle for dominance, only the winner getting out… and unless accepted, nothing they could do by themselves could stop the shadow.

"How does it feel?" Ino asked, a bit awkwardly.

"Nice. It is like… you are just meeting a new person that completely understands you. I mean, in a way it _is_ you, so… It's hard to explain…"

"I guess… Uhm, can I see it?"

"Sure."

Naruto then called for the spirit, materializing it in the real world.

In front of Ino's eyes, a blue mist started appearing on Naruto's lap, and soon the shape of a small, two-tailed orange fox appeared.

"Cute…"

The fox jumped down from Naruto's lap to stand in front of the girl, who accepted the invitation and started petting it.

"You know Ino, you're not as bad as I thought…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" the girl replied angrily, making both the fox and the boy too nervous to run away.

"Well… actually, I don't know much how you are… All I know about you is that you're that girl that is always competing with Sakura-chan."

"And all I know about you is that you're that guy that plays pranks instead of studying and has a crush on Sakura." Ino replied serious, before giving him a smile. "So, why don't we know each other better? They say you can never have too many friends."

The fox under her hand disappeared in the poof of a blue mist, while Naruto looked at her with eyes wide.

"Y-you… want to be my friend?"

The way his voice was shaky was almost a slap on the blond girl's face, she had to resist making a wince at his eagerness. Yes, as she told his father, everyone avoided him, so she was probably the first person their age that he would call a friend.

Even Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji, who sometimes escaped class with him, were probably little more than acquaintances as far as he could tell, with Shikamaru and Chouji's just doing things by themselves and Kiba always making fun of him. Someone who only knew friendship from watching others probably wouldn't think they could be considered forms of friendship too.

But maybe they did. She would talk with them after this and try to figure out what they really thought of the boy.

Speaking of which…

"Sure. I don't see why not." She answered with a smile.

"Great!" Naruto answered with a smile. A different smile, somehow, and from what she remembered from his talk with his shadow, a real one.

IIIII

And so, for a while they talked.

"Really? I wouldn't take you for a gardener. Well, not that many would take my father for one either, but we still have the town's greater flower shop."

"Really? Think he could give me tips someday?"

"Hey, I was raised among those flowers! I know most of the things he does!"

…

"Wait, so you like Sakura because she was lonely at first?"

"Yeah, she was once in the same boat as me, but unlike me she got what I wanted. I really appreciate this in her."

"Heh, I remember. Ami was bullying her and I helped Sakura. I miss when we were friends…"

"What happened?"

"Sakura found out I liked Sasuke too, and decided to break our friendship because we were 'rivals in love'…"

"That's… a bit stupid…"

"I know! But she was the one who did it, what choice did I have?"

…

"You see, you need to balance your calories intake to the amount of work you do. Too much and you get fat, not enough and you get skinny."

"Wouldn't it be better to just have more exercises then? I mean, this way you keep yourself thin but also get stronger."

"But if you exercise too much without building up to it you start aching, and that means you will have trouble doing more exercise later."

"Uhm… this is harder than I thought…"

"Speaking of it, what is _your_ training regime? I mean, are you increasing it properly?"

"...Increasing it?"

All the while, Inoichi was watching. Naruto seemed to be sane and healthy, and seemed like he would benefit from a friendship with Ino.

He'd still crush him like a grape, Persona and Kyuubi or not, if he ever hurt his daughter though.


	2. Friends, old and new

The next day, already cleared to get home, Naruto should be annoyed for having to spend the previous day in the ANBU headquarters. But… he wasn't. He was in fact pretty happy, since he now had a friend.

Oh well. For today, he had to take a picture for his ninja identification!

IIIII

Ino had no trouble finding Shikamaru and Chouji. They knew each other since they were kids thanks to their parents being friends. The two were in the same place as usual, the pineapple-head just lying on the ground as he watched the clouds and his big-bodied friend ate a snack nearby.

"There you two are!"

"Hello Ino." Chouji said cordially.

"What do you want today?" Shikamaru was… less cordial.

Ino decided to ignore this… for now.

"Shut up Shikamaru, this is important."

"Just say it and leave us alone."

Calm down Ino. You need to talk to them. You can't talk properly if you maim them first.

"What do you two think about Naruto?"

The two boys looked at the girl, eyes wide. Then at each other to check if they heard the same thing. Then back to the girl.

"Why are you asking?" Shikamaru asked in a false bored tone. "Decided to give up on Sasuke?"

"No, nothing like that." Ino answered. She knew they would think so at first, so she wasn't that embarrassed by the question.

"Then why do you ask?"

"Naruto did something stupid after graduating and ended up being my first patient," she replied.

Shikamaru was a bit surprised, but didn't show it. She said "graduating", not "graduation". Did that mean he passed, but he was sure he had failed…

"Is he alright?" Chouji asked, a bit worried and not noticing the things Shikamaru did.

"Yes, but the point was that thanks to this we became friends."

"I thought you gave up on making new friends after the whole Sakura thing."

"Nevermind that." Ino said quickly. "What worried me was how he acted when I asked if he waned to try being friends."

"Embarrassed? He is a bit immature, so he probably never thought of having a female friend." Shikamaru guessed.

"No, that would have been ok. He acted… like he never had a friend before."

An awkward silence followed that.

"I consider Naruto a friend…" Chouji tried to say, but he felt a bit hurt by the implication that Naruto didn't think so.

"He is a troublesome guy, but has a good heart."

That was as good an admission as she was going to get from him.

"Did either of you ever told him that?"

"You need to?" Chouji asked surprised.

"Chouji, you act friendly with everyone that doesn't insult you or Shikamaru, and Shikamaru is a lazy bum who just walks silently until somewhere he can watch the sky unless someone pulls him from it. Naruto for as loud as he is has a huge inferiority complex, shown on how he always says he is going to be Hokage. Not only that, besides when he skips classes with you guys no one in class interacts with him more than in passing. He _needs_ some actual assurance. If you just escape from classes and then practically ditch him, he will think you just hang out with him to ditch classes and that's it."

"And the way Kiba likes teasing him, he won't see him as a friend either. He never had friendly banter before."

"Exactly."

As soon as she said that, Shikamaru stood up.

"Where are you going?" Ino asked, surprised.

"Look for Kiba. Doubt he would listen to you on this."

"But—"

"Look, you said he graduated, right? That means we have the team assignment day to fix this misunderstanding."

"This isn't an excuse, is it?"

"Don't worry, I know that you won't leave us alone until we get this settled. Even if you did, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the clouds as much with this in my head. Thoublesome blonds…"

IIIII

"You are not my boss anymore! From now one, you are my rival!"

Naruto couldn't help but smile at that. That little speech of his really got the kid fired up. But… rival…

"Konohamaru!" he screamed to the retreating child, "We are still friends, right?"

The little boy blinked in surprise, then replied with a smile. "Of course!"

Then he ran away.

Naruto breathed with relief. He didn't want to end like Ino and Sakura.

Speaking of the two… Now that he knew about them…

IIIII

The day of the team assignment. Naruto was still happy, even if he didn't see Ino until then she was sure to appear on that day, being top of the class and all.

Shikamaru was looking at him a bit weird when he arrived, though. As if he was holding himself from asking something.

Well, nevermind. He quickly chose a place to sit down, near the front.

And then, the sound of footsteps of people running.

"Goal!" yelled both Sakura and Ino as they arrived.

Naruto turned as they argued about who arrived first, and couldn't help but think about what Ino told him about they once being friends…

Then Sakura went to where he was!

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Hey Ino!"

Sakura just pushed Naruto aside… before noticing what he said.

"Wait… did you just say hi to _Ino_?"

"Uhm, yeah?" Naruto said from the ground. "Why?"

"Don't worry Sakura, we are just friends. No need to be _jealous_." Ino said in a joking tone.

"Me? Jealous of _Naruto_? As if!"

Naruto took this time to sit back in his place, but he was clearly hurt by his words.

"You could always be jealous of Ino, you know" said Shikamaru of all people.

"W-what?" spluttered Sakura.

Ino ran with it.

"Oh, I'm grateful Sakura, but I like boys, I'm sorry."

Naruto had to hold himself not to laugh. The rest of the class didn't even try holding back their laughter.

"N-no! I like Sasuke-kun!"

"Every girl here likes Sasuke-kun though. He is the perfect beard…"

"I'm not a lesbian!"

"Hey Sakura-chan, I believe you! Want to go on a date later?"

Her answer was to clonk his head… then notice where he was. Again.

"Hey Naruto, get out of there! I want to sit there!"

"Ok…" Naruto said a bit sadly, but gladly moved to the middle of the table so Sakura could take his old position.

"No, you idiot! I want to sit beside Sasuke-kun!"

Confused, Naruto looked to his other side… and faced Sasuke.

"Gah! When did you get there?"

"…I was here before you sat down."

"You seriously didn't notice?" asked Sakura, frustrated. "Anyway, get out of there so I can sit beside Sasuke-kun!"

"And why you should be the one to sit beside him, Forehead?"

"Because I arrived first!"

"No, I arrived first!" said another girl.

"No, I did!"

"No, me!"

"Girls, girls, girls…" said Naruto appeasingly."It doesn't matter who arrived first, only who sat beside him first. Which, gasp, was me."

"And why would you want to—" Sakura began angrily before Ino interrupted:

"Did you just _say_ 'gasp'?"

"But I am a generous man… so I will relinquish my place for… I don't know, the one of you willing to trade more for it."

"**WHAT?**" screamed all girls angrily at once.

Sasuke waited a bit then asked, confused:

"Wait, are you really auctioning the… 'privilege' of sitting besides me?"

"Yup." Naruto replied with a smirk.

"…I want half the money." Sasuke said, after a while

"What?" Naruto exclaimed… which for Naruto is "shouted".

"I can always to somewhere else…"

"Fine, fine! You get half the money! Geez…"

Sasuke gave a satisfied smirk of his own. If he was going to suffer, at least he was going to get something from it.

"I don't get it, aren't you rich?"

"It's the principle of the thing."

IIIII

In the end, Sakura won, paying all the money she had taken for lunch. She judged it was a worthy price… until Naruto rested his butt on her _other_ side.

And so Iruka arrived and the teams were divided.

"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto,"

'Hm, I wonder who will be on my team… I hope Sakura-chan and Ino.'

"Haruno Sakura,"

"No!" Sakura moaned in disbelief of her bad luck.

'Yes! One more!'

"and Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Yes!"

"WHAT?"

"What's wrong Naruto?" asked the teacher with a sigh.

"Look, I admit he is not so bad as I though, but why am I on the same team as him?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

"Sasuke's grades where the best amongst those who passed…"

"Wait, what? But Ino told me hers were the best!"

"Well, yes, hers were the best grade overall, but each grade has a different weight so in the end Sasuke ended up best.  
>Anyways, your grades… were the worst amongst the ones who passed, so we put you together to balance the teams."<p>

Naruto fumed as the others laughed at him, but… he didn't really pass by grade, so it made sense he would be the worst.

"Don't get in my way, deadlast." Sasuke said cooly.

He would be angry, but…

"Did you just tell a joke? Iruka-sensei, call am ambulance! Sasuke told a joke!"

Everybody laughed. Even Sasuke let escape a small smirk.

"Team eight," Iruka continued…

IIIII

"Sasuke-kun is already gone? I thought that since we are of the same team we could have lunch together…" Sakura complained to herself.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Since we are of the same team, we could have lunch together!" Naruto arrived, coincidentally.

"And why would I have lunch with _you_?" Sakura replied, ignoring her plans with Sasuke had been exactly that.

"But, but we are of the same team…"

"You are irritating." Sakura replied, coldly. She then started leaving looking for Sasuke…

And right then Naruto felt a nudge under his hand and the feeling of soft fur.

He got it. He had no reason to just stand to this, even if the person was Sakura-chan.

"I don't know, I think your Sasuke-kun gets better along with me than with you."

"What you say?" Sakura said, turning around angrily.

"I don't know, that's just an impression I got today. I mean, he paid no attention to you but not just we did business but he even joked. Maybe, just maybe you'd have more chance spending time with him if you tried an excuse of doing it as a team than just following around and mentioning the team only as lip-service. But well, I better get going, don't want to annoy you anymore."

Sakura had no idea what to say as a smiling Naruto left her. But without her knowing, as he left Naruto's smile fell down into a frown.

Why did he say that? Was that really what his persona was pulling him to do? Well, he would have done the same to anyone else but Sakura-chan earlier anyway, but… _she was Sakura-chan_!

Maybe it as having someone that appreciated his company for comparison?

"There you are!"

And speak of the devil.

"We were looking for you three!" Ino said, followed by her team and… Kiba's? "…Where's Sasuke-kun?"

"Dunno, probably went home to get lunch." Naruto answered. He did not want to think of the guy right now.

"Oh, shame. We were thinking about having a group lunch with our three teams. What about you two?"

"Well, I'm game! What about you, Sakura-chan?"

"U-uh?" Sakura replied, surprised. "N-no, thanks. I… have to think about something…"

"Suit yourself Forehead. Come on Naruto!"

"Sure," he replied with a shrug before following the other six.

Sakura just watched them leave, more confused than anything.

IIIII

"What happened between you and Sakura?" Ino asked worried as soon as she was out of sight.

"She… kind of treated me badly again. Before I noticed, I was saying things like a joke to hurt her back. It's not the first time I did it, but not to Sakura-chan…"

Ino digested it for a bit.

"Well, the technique is supposed to make you more true to yourself. Maybe it just made you treat her like you would anyone else."

"Maybe…"

The two didn't notice Kiba and Akamaru looking at them suspiciously.

IIIII

Sakura was… confused. Was Naruto right? Was she just an annoyance to Sasuke-kun?

She couldn't deny he didn't treat her any better than any other girl in class, but… Well, he didn't interact with any other girl in class unless they interacted with him first…

But that wasn't much of a point for her either…

Well, no reason to be impatient. She had him all for her from now on… She could show him why she was the better choice for him…

And what did she have that the others didn't? As much as she wanted to deny it, she wasn't amongst the best looking of the class. The only feature she had that differentiated her was her forehead…

Even Naruto of all people interacted with Sasuke better than her.

She had these kinds of thoughts until lunchtime was over.

Nothing happened that would make her think anything better of herself

IIIII

"Hey Naruto, Ino, what was it about a technique that made the loser tell Sakura what she should have been told a long time ago?"

Ouch. That hurt a bit. But before he could say anything back…

"Kiba, you promised to behave!"

"About Sasuke being there. Besides, this is just friendly banter, Naruto knows I don't mean anything by it."

He… didn't?

"Insulting people is friendly?" Ino replied.

"It's just friendly banter. Don't you and Sakura do it all the time?"

"I've known Shikamaru and Chouji for years and they never did this" she said, trying to drive the conversation away from herself and Sakura, Naruto thought.

"I don't expect you to understand the complexities of male friendship."

"'Complexities'? I didn't expect you from all people to know that word."

"Ouch. You see? You're already good at it." Kiba answered with a laugh. "But seriously, what about this technique?"

"How did you hear about it? We were talking quietly!"

"Inuzuka hearing is good. So, what about this technique?"

"What is it to you?"

"Naruto is a friend of mine."

"I am?" Naruto interrupted.

"You are," said Shikamaru. Chouji nodded.

This was not part of the plan, but the best plans of mice and men and all that.

"But… you guys always left right after we left the school…"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm just like that. Just ask Chouji."

The big boy just smiled.

Hinata and Shino just looked at the scene awkwardly.

"Anyways, about the technique?"

"Naruto used a Yamanaka technique by accident. Can't tell any more, but he seems to be ok if a bit more expressive."

"A more expressive Naruto? We are so boned…" Kiba joked.

"Anything more is his to tell."

"Wait, really?" Naruto said, surprised.

"What?" Ino asked.

"Isn't it your family technique? Shouldn't I keep it a secret?"

"Nah. My father said that as long as you don't tell anyone how to get it it should be no problem. Since you now know how dangerous that can be…"

"R-right." Naruto gulped. He had no idea how dangerous the technique was when he used it, he was lucky he had succeeded.

"How did you learn a dangerous Yamanaka technique?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh, well, it all started when I failed the genin exam…"

…

"Wait, wait!" Kiba said after the story was over. "You! Took down a chuunin. By yourself."

"With a bunch of clones, but yes."

"But… but you were the deadlast! Even after that?"

"Dude, I passed but my grades sucked."

"But you defeated a chuunin!"

"Well it's too late for me to complain. I was happy enough having passed at the time."

"But…"

"This second technique," Shikamaru interrupted, "what does it do?"

"It can summon the power of my personality as a two-tailed fox kit."

Silence followed that statement.

"Wow, and you put yourself in danger for that?" Kiba broke the silence, "If it depends in your personality it must suck."

"You're just jealous my kitsune is cuter than Akamaru." Naruto said with a pout.

"What? Summon it right now! No one is cuter than Akamaru!"

Naruto did so, blue mist shaping itself in the form of a fox with two long tails.

Ino squealed as it yawned. Hinata's eyes were sparkling.

"…Ok, I admit it is cute. But it doesn't look powerful."

"It can bash with its tails stronger than I can punch and just yesterday it learned to send a blade of wind that cuts as well as a kunai. But yeah, from what I was told it is still weak."

"And how do you make it stronger?" asked Shikamaru.

"Well, I can train with it like I did to learn the wind blade, but from what I was told the best way to make it stronger is by interacting with people."

"So your 'Persona' gets stronger… the more you talk?" Kiba asked, surprised.

"Seems so." Naruto confirmed.

Kiba then turned to Ino.

"That means that if you learned it you'd be unstoppable!"

"What? You little…"

"It _is_ a Yamanaka technique." Shikamaru confirmed.

Naruto couldn't help it. He started laughing while Ino tried her best to pummel the two.

IIIII

"That was fun! We should do it more times!" Naruto said happily as they walked back to class.

"Yes, that was very enjoyable." Shino agreed.

"Yeah, and next time it is yours and Hinata's turn to talk."

"Me?" replied the shy girl, eyes wide?

"Yeah, I talked a lot to Ino the other day while I was with the ANBU and I've know the other three since I was small, but you two barely said anything the whole time."

"And you spoke about your graduation and your Persona ability with us. I believe it is fair."

"Sure." Hinata answered, still a little surprised.

Naruto turned around, smiling. He was happy.


	3. Teamwork and Failure

Naruto was not happy.

Everyone had already gone out of class with their jonin-sensei, save for his team.

He was annoyed, bored and angry at his teacher. A not very healthy combination… for the other person.

And he was pretty sure his persona was egging him on from inside his head. Was it influencing him? Wasn't it supposed to have the same personality as him? How did that even work?

Well, either way, it translated on him standing on from his desk and pulling a small prank on his new teacher.

So he quickly grabbed a chalkboard eraser and wedged it on top of the door.

"Hey Naruto, what are you doing?" asked Sakura in an annoyed tone… but really, watching whatever it was was better than doing nothing.

"Playing a prank on the new teacher. It's his fault if he is late enough I have time to pull them."

"And it's your fault if we get in trouble." Sakura shot back.

"A jonin wouldn't fall for such an old and stupid trick." Sasuke said from his seat.

"I'm on an unknown timeline here and have limited resources." Naruto replied dismissively. "Besides, if it works it works; if it doesn't, it is a good distraction for the real deal…" Naruto trailed off with a smile and a piece of ninja wire in his hands.

…

"Naruto," Sasuke said, annoyed, "I can see the idea here. I really can. It is stupid, but alright. But I really think that" he pointed to the piece of almost-invisible wire at around 15 cm of height from the ground "and that" he then pointed to the second wire, on top of the door, holding an empty bucket "should be linked."

"Usually, yes." Naruto agreed as he jumped down from the desk he was using to reach so high, "but I have something that I want to try."

And not a second too soon, as just then the jounin-sensei opened the door…

…and was covered in eraser dust.

Kakashi looked at the three of them, the dust almost invisible in his gravity-defying silver hair. The pink-haired girl seemed too worried they'd get in trouble. The brooder over there was giving him a wholly unimpressed look. And the blond…

Was looking above him?

He quickly looked up.

Then a bucket fell on his head.

With everyone but Naruto looking at their new teacher, no one noticed the blue mist dissolving in the air.

"My first impression of you…" the jonin finally said as he lifted the bucket… "I hate you guys. Meet me in the roof in five minutes."

IIIII

"Well, why don't you start by introducing yourselves?" Kakashi told them lazily.

"Introduce ourselves? What should we say?" asked Sakura, a bir confused.

"Things that you like, things that you hate, your dreams, your hobbies. Things like that."

"Hey, why don't you go first, sensei?" Naruto said, still a bit unsure of what he should say.

"Me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you guys what I do or don't like. Dreams for the future…" he trailed off, "well, I have a few hobbies."

"So all he told us was his name." said Sakura lowly for the other two. Naruto nodded.

"Now it is your turn. You first." Kakashi said, looking in Naruto's direction.

"Alright!" Naruto said excited. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, red bean soup, when others pay me lunch, my friends, making new friends, my Persona, Sakura-chan's forehead—"

"What?" the girl screamed, surprised.

"I think it's cute," he shrugged distractly, "oh, and playing pranks. I dislike assholes, the three minutes it takes to make ramen, vegetables, when people act badly towards my friends and being ignored. My hobbies are comparing flavors of ramen, training, gardening and playing pranks. My dream is to surpass all the Hokages and become one myself. Dattebayo!"

'Well that was… interesting.' Kakashi thought. 'I was expecting… less. Wait a…'

"Did you say 'your Persona'? What's that?"

"Oh, it's something I learned a few days ago. I can make my inner self take a shape."

That said, Naruto summoned the blue fog, and from it the small two-tailed fox kit. The fox then opened it's mouth, in a cute yawn.

"So cute!" Sakura squealed, grabbing it in a hug.

"Hehe, I know I am." Naruto replied proudly.

"Not you stupid! Your pet fox!"

"That's not a pet. It's a Persona. It is me."

Sakura blinked, confused. He was making no sense.

But then—

"I am Naruto, and Naruto is me." The Persona agreed, in a childish voice.

Sakura blinked again. Should she feel embarrassed?

"I am the walrus. Choo choo ka choo."

Everyone looked at Kakashi, confused. He coughed in his hand.

"Uhm, sorry. Alright, next."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like… well, the person I like is…" she stopped talking, but her eyes made clear she was talking about Sasuke. The boy just ignored her. "My hobby, well, my dream is…" more glances, likewise ignored.

'She has a one-track mind.' Kakashi thought. "And what do you dislike?"

"I don't like Naruto much… but I like his Persona… but it said it is also Naruto… but it's so cute… I'm… confused?"

"You and me both." Kakashi agreed. "The last one now."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike lots of things, and there are not many things I like. And I don't have a dream, but an ambition. Bringing back my clan, and… killing a certain person."

Only silence followed that statement—

"Is it me?"

For a few seconds.

"…Why would it be you?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"I dunno." Naruto replied.

"Then why did you ask if it was you?"

Naruto just shrugged.

"Aanyway… We are going to have a mission tomorrow. Something the four of us can do…"

The three genin approached the man, curious.

"A survival training."

"Why call this a mission. We already had this training in the academy." Sakura said, annoyed.

"Yeah, we already did this. What's the catch?" asked Naruto.

"The… catch? Hehe… I was going to keep it a surprise, but since you asked…"

He then leaned forward, giving his masked face an eerie shadow.

"Of the 27 people of your class that graduated, probably only nine will actually become genin. The other eighteen will be sent back to the academy.  
>In other words, this survival training will actually be a difficult test with 66% chance of failure."<p>

Naruto couldn't help it. The kitsune evaporated in a burst of blue mist.

IIIII

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke left the building, a bit shaken by the news, even if Sasuke refused to let it show.

"Hey guys! Over here!"

Waiting for them in the tree of the academy grounds was once more teams eight and ten.

Sasuke quietly tried leaving the other way.

"It wouldn't hurt you trying to talk with others from time to time, bastard."

"I don't have time for this, I have to train for a test tomorrow." Sasuke replied bitterly. "If you were smart you'd do the same."

And thus he left.

Naruto quickly turned to Sakura.

"What about you, Sakura-chan?"

She looked at the group, looked at Sasuke´s back, then shrugged. Sasuke had already said he was going to train anyway.

"Ok, it won't hurt... right?"

IIIII

"Man, your sensei is a bastard." Kiba said, matter-of-factly.

"You said yours did the same thing, Kiba." Sakura tried defending her new teacher, even if he wasn't yet.

"But she wasn't a bitch about it."

"Yes," agreed Hinata in her quiet voice, "Kurenai-sensei was very considerate."

"Ours didn't do much, but didn't act like he would have fun with our suffering if we failed either," agreed Ino.

"Doesn't matter, all we can do is prepare for the test." Said Shikamaru, pensative. "I think Naruto is the only one here without a ninja parent, did any of yours give any signal that there was this test?"

"My mom laughed and told me to have fun when I left." Kiba said. "I should have known there was something bad coming…"

No one said anything else.

"Guess that means we can't ask for help from them." Ino concluded, sadly.

"It is the most logical conclusion." Shino agreed.

"So, any ideas of what the test could be?" asked Naruto. "Our sensei said that it was going to be some special survival training."

"Really? Ours said it was just to see how well we worked in a mock mission," Chouji said.

"Fieldwork evaluation." Shino agreed, and Hinata nodded.

"Why would ours be different then?" wondered Sakura.

"Probably because your team would need another type of test."

"What do you mean Shikamaru?" asked Naruto.

"Well, as much as we want to believe the teams are balanced, our team is a perfect replica of our parents' team, considered one of the best teams in the last generation. While Kiba, Shino and Hinata make one of the best possible tracking teams in our class.  
>We only need to make sure we work as well as expected together and there is little doubt we would pass, and as such an specialized team is rare I doubt team eight would have been made on a whim, so probably all they need is to work well together.<br>Yours though, has no specific field it fits. Our teams have specific skills to be tested and so our test is probably planned around it, yours doesn't."

He then took a potato chip that Chouji was offering before continuing.

"But there is a pattern."

"Your teams still need to be checked if they can work together. " Sakura said, coming to the same conclusion Shikamaru did.

"I doubt they would just throw you away for not having a niche yet, so you probably will be held to the same standards."

"Which means the test for everyone is probably about…"

IIIII

The next day, five in the morning. As the teacher said, the three members of team seven had gone to the appointed training ground, without breakfast.

The teacher wasn't there.

"Perfect," said Naruto before giving a yawn, to Sasuke's confusion.

"Sasuke-kun, we don't want Kakashi-sensei to find out, but we think we figured out the meaning of the test while talking to the others yesterday," Sakura explained.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Shikamaru and me got to the conclusion that the real meaning behind all the tests is teamwork."

"So from what Shikamaru said he'll probably tell the rules in a way that'll separate us, but the real test will need us to work together." Naruto completed.

"Hn, and what if he is wrong?"

"We'll think about it then. But at least we have some idea of what is waiting for us."

IIIII

And so, they waited.

And waited.

Waited for six hours total.

"Good morning, everyone!" said a smiling Kakashi.

"YOU'RE LATE!" replied Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke held himself back.

Barely.

"Sorry, sorry. A black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around to get here."

"It has been six hours!" Naruto said.

"As I said, the long way."

"SIX! HOURS!"

"Oh shut up Naruto!" interrupted Sakura. "The longer you complain the longer this will take."

Naruto pouted, but obeyed. She had a point.

And as Sakura said, Kakashi quickly put an alarm clock on top of a log and turned it on.

"This alarm will ring at noon. Your mission is to steal these bells from me." He said, showing two bells.

It was past eleven. They had less than an hour.

"And whoever doesn't get a bell, doesn't get lunch. I will tie you to a log and eat right in front of you." He completed, pointing to three high logs some distance away.

This explained everything. The early hour, the wait, the reason not to eat breakfast. It was to make them hungry, irritable and impulsive.

"But sensei, there are only two bells!" noticed Sakura.

"Well, since there are only two at least one of you will be tied to the log." Kakashi explained with a smile. "This person will fail since they couldn't complete the mission, and be sent back to the academy. It could be just one, or all three, but someone will."

He then turned serious, and continued explaining.

"You can use anything you have. You won't be able to get them if you don't come with the intent to kill."

"But that's dangerous, sensei!" Sakura complained, worried.

Naruto was going to say something, but something held him back. Just like something had made him tell Sakura all those things earlier.

He didn't like that.

He knew it was his Persona's fault, but had no idea how or why.

'What is the big idea?' he asked in his head, not really expecting an answer.

Yet an answer he did get.

_Time is running._

'Oh shit, I forgot!'

"We will begin when I say 'go'…" Kakashi said, ignoring Sakura. "…Go."

As he said that, the three jumped to different parts of the woods surrounding the training ground.

…

For a while.

For as soon as Kakashi turned around, he grabbed an arm in orange jacket going for the bells.

"…Shouldn't you be hiding?" Kakashi asked.

"That's what you'd expect, so that's the perfect time to attack!" Naruto replied proudly.

Kakashi had to admit in his head. That made a bit of sense. Completely twisted, but a sense.

IIIII

"That idiot." Sasuke said to himself, resigned.

"Oi! I take offense to that! It was a good plan! If he hadn't noticed I would already have the bells!"

"But he did notice. And so…" Sasuke replied… until he noticed who he was talking to.

Who was still fighting Kakashi right in front of him.

"Shadow clones. Clones that can touch things without disappearing. Cool, uh?"

Sasuke had to admit to himself that it was, if not cool, useful. Wouldn't say it aloud though.

"Where's Sakura?"

"Here," said a second Naruto followed by the girl.

He quickly dispelled into smoke.

"So, plans?" Naruto asked. "If it was just me I'd use clones to overwhelm him with hit and run attacks, but maybe you guys have a better one."

"What about the bells?" asked Sasuke.

"What about them? Even I can see they are to separate us like Shikamaru said."

"I won't risk it. I cannot afford to be held back."

Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but Sakura was faster.

"Let's deal with this later, we have to get them first."

And that's when they heard a Naruto screaming in pain.

IIIII

"Uh, a Shadow Clone… not as stupid as I thought." Said Kakashi to himself. "Now, where could those three be…

IIIII

"I didn't like that scream…" said Naruto

"Can you make more clones?" Sakura asked, nervous.

Without answering, Naruto made the handseals and a burst of smoke appeared, and the next instant around fifteen Narutos were going for Kakashi.

Sasuke quickly grabbed the other two and quickly pulled them away from where the clones came from.

"Alright, I'll give it a chance. What's the plan?" Sasuke asked. At least Naruto proved himself good for something already, even if just as distraction.

Sakura saw that too, and saw that she had to do something useful to get the respect of her crush.  
>So she made a plan on the spot.<p>

"Uhm, remember what Naruto said about overwhelming him with hit and run attacks? We could try this… He does that with his clones, I try hitting him with weapons from a distance and since you have the best taijutsu in our class you go try to fight him yourself… Our attacks may give him many openings for you to get the bells…"

Sasuke closed his eyes, thinking about it.

"I agree. Naruto, can you tell the clones somehow?"

"I… don't think I need to. I mean, it's not much different from what they are already doing. If I make more clones they'll know the plan too, but it's not like it'll change much."

"Good point. Get ready Sakura."

"Yes."

IIIII

Kakashi was surprised. He expected Naruto to just attack without thinking from what he heard about him. Yet here he was, surrounding him and pouncing one at a time and escapng before he could hit back. Well, Kakashi could hit him back if he really tried, but it was the principle of the thing.

Then Sasuke entered in the middle of them and engaged him in taijutsu. Usually he would claim the kid was good but not as much as was said, but the bunch of Narutos around him still attacking from time to time were making it reasonably difficult to defent against the Uchiha properly.

And then the kunais and shurikens began.

It was obvious to Kakashi what was happening: they somehow knew what the goal of the exercise was. But the questions were how and what was he going to do about it.

Sasuke suddenly gave a flying kick, that Kakashi was able to defend. But before he could fall back down he gave a punch—

"GARU!"

Kakashi suddenly jumped back, instinctively. He felt no chakra, but his experience warned him of an attack.

He looked to the place he felt the attack coming from, and all he saw was a frustrated Naruto and the remains of the blue mist of when he summoned that fox the previous day.

The blue mist…

He moved his hand to the bells and was not as surprised at feeling the line a little frayed as he thought he should be.

'So, the little fox can attack too…'

But, before he could think more about it, he had to dodge because _there was a big fireball coming his way!_

The fire was so intense all the Narutos not behind Sasuke were forced to close their eyes, meaning no one was able to see where Kakashi was when the fire was gone.

"Sakura!" Sasuke said, looking around for the jounin.

"Underground!" came the pink-haired girl's voice.

Immediately hands sprung from the ground, and would have pulled Sasuke sown if a Naruto clone hadn't switched with him at the last second.

Kakashi promptly jumped from the ground.

"Pretty good. I have to admit, I'm surprised you guys were this good together.

And then the bell rang.

"Alright, that's enough kids." He said, and stood up from his attack position. "The show's over. You lost."

IIIII

Sasuke was… frustrated. He couldn't blame the others, they fulfilled their parts to perfection… save for that scream of Naruto, but he was the distraction anyway. If only he had taken advantage of the openings earlier…

Sakura was sad. She was so sure of their theory… And it's not like she could have been any more useful either, she was the worst in taijutsu of the three and had no jutsu besides the basic three…

Naruto was frustrated in himself. Sakura's plan was perfect. Sasuke fought just as well. If he hadn't tried that Garu… or at least, if he could do it silently. He was sure his scream had alerted the jonin of his attack and was the reason it had failed.

Kakashi just looked at them, and gave them a smile.

"Calm down. It's not like I _really _expected you guys to win."

He had to hold himself from taking a step back from the three gazes that turned on him.

"I noticed that despite my mission only letting two of the three pass, you came at me in a full group. That is commendable; it is actually what you should have done to pass this test. You know, you are not the first team to have this test, but you are the first to pass it…"

The relief in their expressions was visible.

"But you should not have noticed it so quickly. You should have spent some time bickering and fighting for it before you noticed that I was too strong for your current level for you to fight by yourselves. So, how did you figure it out? Who let you guys know what you should do?"

"No one old us!" yelled Naruto. "We and the others figured it out by ourselves!"

"The others?" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow.

"Teams eight and ten, sensei." Sakura explained.

Kakashi took some time to absorb this. Well, this was unexpected.

"I see… Well, the test is over. Fair or not, you passed, and are now my team." Kakashi said, seriously.

Naruto punched the air, yelling. Sakura was a bit more subdued, resisting the urge to squeal a bit of happiness. Even Sasuke let himself smirk and relax a bit.

"Follow me. First lesson begins now." The new team teacher called, and started walking. The three soon followed.

He stopped besides a rock filled with names.

"From now on you are teammates. I do not care what you think of each other. You will have to learn to fight together from now on as you did then. From now on you will be taking care of each other's lives. This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly."

He pointed to the stone.

"In this memorial are the names of the greatest heroes of the village: those who gave their lives to fulfill their mission. My best friend and old teammate has his name engraved here.  
>But there is something more important. More important than fulfilling the mission, than following the shinobi rules."<p>

Naruto got the gist of what he was talking about already.

"Your teammates?"

"Yes." Kakashi confirmed. "In this world, those that don't follow the rules are trash. However, those that abandon their comrades are _lower_ than trash."

Silence followed his words for a while.

"Team seven will start doing missions tomorrow. You are dismissed."

With that said, Sasuke and Sakura left, the girl trying to convince the black-haired boy to go out with her to celebrate.

Naruto didn't notice them going. He was more focused on his teacher.

The man was deeply focused on the memorial stone, and was exhaling a melancholy air. Naruto could tell: he blamed himself for the death of the friend he mentioned.

After a few seconds observing the man, he finally left. For some reason, he was in no mood to celebrate.

IIIII

He was wandering a bit through the training grounds, deep in though. About Kakashi. About what he would do if one of his friends died and he was to blame. About—

But not deep enough not to notice the sobs.

Approaching the source of the sound, he saw a big tree, and sitting down under it, crying her eyes out, was Ami, a classmate of him with purple hair and brown eyes.

She had also been a bit of a bully, always making fun of people enough some girls ended up crying (Sakura included when she was young), and was always surrounded by a group of friends.

But there were no friends with her now.

There wasn't anyone.

Call him weak-hearted, but Naruto couldn't just let this like that. So he set beside her.

For all her faults, Ami was a trained kunoichi. So she quickly noticed someone sitting beside her, even if she had not noticed them approaching.

Her head quickly wiped to the side and she came face to face with the deadlast of her class.

"What do you want?" she asked defensively, red eyes narrowed and cheeks still red not diminishing much her fierce expression.

Naruto didn't answer for a while. What _did_ he want? He had no idea, he just…

"I just thought you needed someone."

"Ha!" Ami replied, agressivelly. "As if I'd like _your_ company out of everyone."

Naruto bit back his retort. Something told him "no need to be a bitch" was not the right thing to say right now.

Instead he just averted his gaze, looking at the trees.

They stood like that for a while, the girl glaring at Naruto and Naruto looking at anywhere but her, and just as Naruto was getting ready to stand up and leave her alone…

"So, did you fail too?" she said in a resigned voice, looking forward.

"Not this time." Naruto said back, in an even tone.

"*sigh* Defeated by the deadlast… Bet Sasuke-kun did most of the work."

"It was more of a group effort, actually."

"Whatever. Why are you here? Wanna shove your victory over someone's face?" she asked aggressively, but her heart clearly wasn't in it. She sounded more resigned than anything.

"Not everyone is like you, Ami." Naruto replied, and then cringed at his words, even if they were true.

She turned away from him in a huff.

"I'm going home. I don't need to hear this kind of thing from you." She said as she started standing up again.

"Look, I'm sorry,"

"Save it."

Naruto sighed.

"I know how it feels."

The girl said nothing, but stopped.

"This feeling of having failed. I know how it feels. It makes you want to cry, to give up. But you have to keep going, or else you'll never be able to do anything anymore for fear of failing again."

"Don't compare yourself to me. I've always been among the best. You are a failure that just got lucky."

"Then I have more experience with failing than you, don't I?" he replied.

"You don't have anyone. You don't know the feeling of disappointing someone."

Naruto had no reply to that.

The girl just shivered, still turned around.

"S-sorry… I just—"

"No, it was true. That is a consequence of failure I never had to deal with."

The two were quiet for a while. Then the girl rested her back to the tree and stopped holding back.

"I've always been the strong girl in class. That strength made other girls follow me, and it got to my head… but they weren't my friends, not really. I've always had to make an effort to keep myself ahead, else one of them would try to take my place. That place… it was all I always had. I had no idea what I would do if I lost it.  
>Then this happened."<p>

"_What_ happened?" asked Naruto, curious.

"I was put on a team with that boy with the big medal and one of the bootlickers. Then the jonin told us to make a mock mission of stealing a scroll she was protecting.  
>My first act was to try to cow bling-boy into obeying me, but that stupid bitch just went ahead and tried stealing it by herself. I think she was trying to show herself as better than me, but all of her plan was to just go there and punch the jonin out of the way.<br>I pulled her back, but she attacked me. Next thing I remember were me and her fighting while bling-boy just watched.  
>The teacher… took exception."<p>

Naruto tried digesting it.

"So, it wasn't your fault?"

"Do you think my parents will accept that?" she asked bitterly. "No, they will just see me as a failure.  
>And I'm being sent back to the academy! With my authority undermined, no one will respect me. And even worse since I already failed it once!"<p>

"You said yourself they feared you more than respected." Naruto stopped her rant.

"Not helping."

"It shouldn't." Naruto replied. "Outside the academy people won't care for how big is your authority there."

"Says the deadlast who never had any."

"Suit yourself." Naruto said, resigned. "But if you'd rather have a friend than a stooge, you can always look for me."

He stood up to leave himself, and almost did before he heard a low "I'd like that…"

Then the girl ran away and left Naruto alone and confused.

IIIII

Naruto went home right after that, since he was hungry and had no idea how long the others would take on their tests.

Unrelated, at about the same time a Hatake Kakashi just noticed the two takeaway lunches and one takeaway ramen bowl (Naruto had been the only one that told him his favorite food) he had planned to give his new students, either as a second test or as a reward, were still there with him…

As soon as he entered his home, Naruto noticed a letter that had been put under his door.

_"Hey Naruto,_

_Since we found out all our three teams passed, we are going to celebrate with a group dinner at Yakiniku Q!_

_It will be at six, don't be late!"_

With a smile, he put the letter on top of his table, right beside his main potted plant… which had brought in a visitor.

"Oh, hello!" he said smiling to the blue butterfly.

Unfortunatelly that made the butterfly fly away…

Right on the tip of the doorknob of a blue door Naruto was _pretty_ sure hadn't been in his apartment before.

Slapping himself to make sure he wasn't seeing things, Naruto slowly approached the door and opened it carefully…

Coming face to face to a blue-themed bar he had been to before once.

"Oh, hello," said Igor with a smile. "Welcome back."

IIIII

It was a cave.

The man lying down on the symbol of his god, praying, entered a trance once more.


	4. In the Cards

"Igor, there is something wrong with me." Naruto said worriedly as soon as he sat on the chair.

"Hmm? How so?"

"I-I'm not acting like myself. Sometimes, I find myself doing or not doing things I usually wouldn't do."

"For example?" Igor asked, unworried.

"Saying hurtful things to people I wouldn't usually. Holding back on saying things I would. Fighting… defensively. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have talked to anyone the way I did with Ami."

"Wouldn't you?" Igor replied. "I think you would, if given the chance."

Naruto was going to argue, but held back. He didn't notice any influence from his Persona, unlike from the other three cases he mentioned.

"Alright, I'll give you that one. But what about the things I said to Sakura-chan, or stopping me from making fun of Kakashi-sensei, or fighting like that?"

"Did you say anything you weren't thinking?"

Naruto thought back to it, then shook his head.

"Do you disagree that holding back was the best action?"

Naruto slowly shook his head again.

"You see, your Persona is you. An externalized you, an you that sees things from a third person point of view. It can use this unique view to offer you advice on what you would think is best if it was you watching someone else.  
>Advice, nothing more."<p>

Naruto nodded. It made sense.

"Well, if I answered your main doubts… You were expected here for… other reasons." Igor said, steppling his fingers. "Do you remember how to increase the power of your Personas, I take it?"

"By using it more and interacting with others." Naruto nodded.

"Yes. Usually, enough meaningful interactions would allow your persona to evolve… However, you seem to be able to utilize a most wondrous ability… Tell me my dear guest, what do you know of the Arcana?"

"Absolutelly nothing!" Naruto said happily.

Igor let escape a quick laugh.

"Ever heard of Tarot?"

"Yeah, it's those cards used to read the future, isn't it?"

"It has been used as such," replied Igor, amused. "Each card has been given an esoteric meaning in the tarot deck… including personalities."

"And by personalities you mean Personas?" asked Naruto.

"Yes. Many people's personalities, and thus their possible Personas, can be classified through the main 22 cards of the Major Arcanas of the tarot deck.  
>For example, you."<p>

"Me?" Naruto asked surprised, pointing to himself.

"Yes. Freedom. Spontaneity. Creativity. A little bit of chaos and madness. Inexperience, meaning space to grow. Exuberant and not afraid to show how you enjoy life. Full of faith and charisma. Listens to your heart and takes risks. And most important, you are open, doing your best to understand others even if they would not do the same to you. My dear guest, there is only one Arcana I believe fits you."

Naruto got closer, paying total attention.

This Arcana represents the beginning, and infinite potential. It is versatile, being able to utilize almost any abilities while other Arcanas usually specialize.

He got to the edge of the seat…

"Arcana number zero: The Fool!"

He fell from the seat!

"Fool?!"

"Do not be mistaken due to it's literal meaning. Fools are spirits in search of experience, and thus are open to the world itself. As does the number zero, as it can become anything."

"I guess, when you put it like that…" Naruto agreed, sitting back in his chair. "But, that's about my Persona, right? You started talking about these Arcana to tell me about something else?"

"Yes, my dear guest." Igor agreed. "You see, your… openness also allows you to utilize this ability to its full potential.  
>The ability to switch Personas." Igor finished, grandiosely.<p>

Naruto just stood there, confused.

"Why would I do that? I mean, don't I have to train my Personas to get better at them? Doesn't that mean focusing on one would be better?"

A bit frustrated by such a lackluster response, Igor explained:

"Different Personas have different abilities, as well as different strengths and weaknesses. By unlocking your Persona you gain the benefits of such abilities, but also the disadvantages of their weaknesses. For example, your current Persona, Kitsune, has resistance to Wind attacks, but is vulnerable to Fire."

"I see…" said Naruto, sadly. It had seemed too good to be true.

"By changing Personas, you can use the most useful at the time."

"That does sound useful, but what does it do to me? Will I start acting like Sasuke if I use a Persona like his or something?"

"Oh no, you misunderstand… The new Personas are still a part of you, but their view of the word is slightly influenced by what you understand of people of that Arcana. By changing Personas, you are just changing your viewpoint. They may direct you to behave a little more like someone of their Arcana, but that's it."

"I see…" that was a relief, not having to change how he acted to be able to use another Persona… or worse, be _forced_ to change how he acted. "And how do I get a new Persona-tebayo?" he asked, excited.

"The same way you do to get them stronger: interacting with people with personalities of that Arcana."

"Cool! I can't wait to get some new ones and check what they can do!"

"Oh, you already got some." Igor guaranteed with his usual grin. "Look here."

He moved his hand along the table, and where it passed a card appeared. Most had a number but were empty, but six showed their image.

The Fool, the Empress, the Chariot, the Hermit, the Tower and the Sun.

"The problem is, most of these are too strong for you to use yet. You would probably collapse before being able to summon all but the Chariot's initial one.  
>I advise you to look for more people to relate with, to increase your choices."<p>

He then waved his hand, and the twenty cards levitated to in front of Naruto in a neat stack.

"Uh. I wonder who I got a card from."

He picked the first card, the Fool, and looked at it…

And soon saw a picture of himself with his team.

"Your journey for growth and knowledge is the first step on the way to unlocking your full potential."

He picked the other cards. The blank ones held no picture, but the ones filled did. Ino as the Empress, Kiba as the Chariot, Shikamaru as the Hermit… Ami? Apparently their talk was enough for her to be the Tower. And Chouji was the Sun.

He guessed he still didn't know Shino and Hinata enough for them to get a card. Or Sakura-chan.

He really should work at least on Sakura-chan. At least trying to find out why she broke her friendship with Ino, to be able to try to bring it back. It was clear even to him Ino suffered a bit with that.

"Any other questions?" Igor asked, smile still on his face.

"I guess none right now… Oh wait, how do I change Personas after all?"

"Oh, you just need to concentrate. You may find it easier if you imagine a card of the Arcana you wish to use."

"Thank you Igor."

"It was no problem, my dear guest. My mission is to assist. Well then, for now, farewell."

The lights began shining brightly around Naruto, and the next think he knew he was back at his apartment in front of that blue door, feeling like having just woken up from a nap.

In his pocket was a pack of tarot cards.

Curious, he imagined a copy of the chariot card in his mind breaking down into mist and becoming a Persona.

He felt himself becoming a bid more confident, a bit more harsh. But he also felt his own self under it.

He tried summoning his Persona like he did with Kitsune, and was a bit shocked. What appeared was a blue-green blob, with angry eyes and a mouth. "Slime", he thought, and somehow knew that it was resistant to physical attacks but weak to fire like Kitsune.

It was also a bit harder to manifest than the small fox, but having the Persona in his mind was only a bit heavy at first. Curious, he tried imagining Ino's card, Empress.

He quickly grabbed a chair nearby to try to keep himself upright. He couldn't even focus on the Persona to figure out the name under the headache.

He quickly let go of the card in his mind, and the pain was gone, just a dull ache for now.

By his side, Kitsune manifested itself. He barely noticed the strain of it anymore but for when using a technique with it, and having the small fox by his side helped him calm down.

So, that was it. Using a Persona was a chore on his mind, he was strong enough for Kitsune and Slime but any other would be too hard for him for now. Like using a weapon, he could only use what he was strong enough to, any more would be too much a strain. And that Persona had been too much to just hold right now, much less attack with.

He pulled himself to bed and let himself go, too mentally exhausted to even prepare an instant ramen. He would rather be hungry than awake right now. He had to force himself to adjust his alarm clock to about half an hour before six, and went to sleep still clutching it.

IIIII

Yakiniku Q was no Ichiraku, but again they were different: while Ichiraku got you your ramen ready on the counter by a friendly and smiling waitress, Yakiniku Q had tables with griddles so the client could roast the barbecue at their taste, but you barely saw the waiters.

In other words, Ichiraku was great for a personal meal with a friend, but for a gathering Yakiniku Q was better.

Not that Naruto would ever admit it. But he wasn't the one who chose it anyway.

Teams eight, ten and Sakura were already there when Naruto arrived. Sasuke wasn't though.

"Hey, where's the bastard?" he asked, sitting on an empty chair.

"He didn't arrive yet," Sakura answered, sounding a bit worried.

"He probably isn't coming," replied Kiba. Sakura and Ino looked like they were going to disagree, but the fact was he wasn't there yet and he was usually punctual as far as they knew.

"Hey, are you alright Naruto?" asked Chouji, worried. Naruto was looking a bit pale and holding his head from time to time.

"Not really. Didn't have breakfast and woke up early because of the test. And then when I got home I tried a new thing I learned about my Persona that was too much for me so I ended up skipping lunch."

"What does this Persona thing _do_, afer all?" Sakura asked, curious. "I mean, it said it was you, so it is some kind of cloning technique like you did at the exam combined with transformation like that perv one?"

"Nah, it's a Yamanaka technique," Ino answered for him, "Persona is a manifestation of a person's personality, which for those able to summon lets them use special abilities."

"Wait, so that fox is Naruto's _mind_? But it is so cute!"

"I know! So unfair…"

"Oi!" Naruto interrupted. "That hurts girls. Right here," he said, pointing to his chest.

They all laughed, even Hinata a bit (probably Shino too, they couldn't tell), and their meat was delivered.

"It is not so surprising, however." Shino said as the food shizzled.

"What do you mean, Shino-san?" asked Hinata, in her shy way.

"Kitsunes are tricksters considered very good at shapeshifting, particularly on female forms, and many illusions and enchantments, including illusory fire. Although, they are also supposed to be wise…"

"Ouch, come on man, even you?"

Another round of laughter ensued.

"But seriously, the only abilities my Persona has until now are a strong bash of its tails and cutting winds."

"Maybe you just need to make it stronger." Shikamaru replied. "Or maybe you'd be good at genjutsu if you ever learn it."

"Our new teacher is said to be good at those," Kiba said. "Maybe she could help check?"

"That'd be nice." Naruto said, getting a piece of meat to see if it seemed cooked enough. It did, so he took a bite. "I'll ask Kakashi-sensei tomorrow to see if there isn't any problem. Could you guys ask her for me if he agrees?"

"Sure," Kiba shrugged.

"So, how were your tests?" asked Chouji.

"We were told to locate and capture our sensei before the time limit. All three of us could locate her, but we had to work together to capture her even though she was clearly holding back." Shino answered.

"Same here but for the locate part. We had Chouji fight him physically until he was in position for me to capture him in my shadow jutsu so he couldn't avoid Ino's body control one," Shikamaru said in turn.

Naruto nodded, mentally noting the information about those jutsu. Could always be useful.

Noticing it was their turned, he turned to look at Sakura, who was looking at him.

Sighing, he started:

"Ok, let's just say ours was different. For starters, it was supposed to begin at 5 in the morning, but the bastard of a teacher…"

IIIII

After a while, it was time to go. Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji lived near each other, so they left together. Kiba went with his teammates too because he was a group person like that.

Which left Naruto alone with Sakura. Something he usually would be quite happy to be.

But not today. Not with the look of sadness and longing on her face as she watched Ino going home with the other two.

"Hey Sakura-chan," he said quietly as they walked, which surprised the girl; she couldn't remember he ever being this quiet. Well, when they were at the test, but it was a different kind of quiet.

"What is it Naruto?" she asked suspicious, "If you are going to ask me on another date—"

"No, no. Well, not this time. I just wanted to ask…"

He swallowed. He was probably overstepping his bounds asking this, but he couldn't help it.

"Why aren't you and Ino friends anymore?"

Sakura stopped, surprised by the question. Naruto stopped at her side.

"I… Ino and me both like Sasuke-kun, so we couldn't be friends anymore."

"But all girls in class seem to like him too, but they are still friends," he pointed out.

"I… you just wouldn't understand."

"Do you?"

The girl looked down, biting her lip.

"I… I…"

"Sakura-chan, can't you two be friends again?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I like you, and Ino is my friend. I want you to be happy."

The girl just stood there, looking at anything but him.

"It is too late."

"Sakura-chan, I'm sure that—"

"I had to choose between love and friendship and I chose love. You never had either, so you wouldn't know how I feel."

Hearing that from her hurt, but not more than the hurt look she could see in her eyes.

She quickly went away, leaving the boy behind. But not before hearing his words:

"And why did you have to choose?"

IIIII

Sakura entered her room in a bad mood and quickly covered her head with her pillow to muffle her sobs. She was angry. Angry at Naruto for asking that. Angry at herself for purposefully trying to hurt him like that. Angry at Ino and Sasuke for the situation she was in.

Not for the first time, she wished she still had a friend to talk to. But she had no one.

IIIII

Naruto looked sadly at the now filled card, Sakura's card, the Lovers symbol mocking him for what he now knew it meant for her.

With a sigh, he went home.

At least he could use this one's Persona already.

IIIII

The man rose, his purple eyes opening full of happiness.

He had been blessed by his god once more.

As he raised his arms, his eyes shone a sick yellow, and blue mist took form in front of him.


	5. Starting a Training Routine

**For starters, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to send the chapter. I won't make excuses, besides my computer problems and a small case of writer's block I've been playing a bit of PersonaQ to see if there was any new Persona knowledge I could get from it.  
>As a matter of fact, there was.<strong>

**But anyway, I was hoping for sending you guys a longer chapter that would end with Team 7 going right to their first C-rank mission next chapter, but it was taking too long and I thought you guys would be getting a bit impatient.  
>So, I just gave Naruto his final Arcana for a while and decided to close at a good point and finish the chapter for now.<strong>

**Hope you guys enjoy it as much as you seemed to enjoy the other chapters, and sorry for annoying you guys with this Author Note.**

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up early, so he would have time to buy this. It would be useful, he thought.<p>

Everyone looked at him weirdly as he walked through the street reading that book, but he didn't care. It's not like it was the first time he got weird stares, probably wouldn't be the last either.

Good thing he did have the book to spend some time, though. His jonin-sensei was late, Sakura was ignoring him and Sasuke was… being Sasuke.

Half an hour later, Sakura gave up and let her curiosity win.

"Naruto, why are you reading a book about Tarot?"

"What? Oh, sorry," he said, closing the book to pay better attention to her. "It's to better understand my Personas."

"Your summons?"

Naruto blinked and turned to the voice. He hadn't even noticed Sasuke was paying attention.

He thought a bit. He guessed "summon" was a good way to explain it.

"Yeah, they are divided between the Major Arcanas, so I'm hoping that by understanding those better I can work better with them. Or at least the three I can already use."

Sakura was a bit confused, from what she understood from Ino's explanation each person would have just one Persona, right?

"And what can they do?" Sasuke asked before she could say anything, sounding genuinely curious.

"Well, depends. Kitsune is a bit of a distance fighter right now, Slime is more for the frontlines and Pixie can heal."

Uh. Sasuke was surprised. That was a versatile summon squad. Smile went to the frontlines with Kitsune for the support while Pixie kept them alive.

"And you can summon all three at once?"

"Uh? Oh, no. Personas can only be summoned one at a time as far as I know."

Oh. Well that was a bit disappointing. Still made Naruto more useful than he thought at first though.

Well, yes, they weren't the strongest summons, and it's not like they are Naruto himself to be _his_ strength (as far as he knew), but that still made him a bit versatile.

While Sasuke was concentrated on thinking about the strategic uses of his teammates' abilities, Sakura approached Naruto.

"Look Naruto… I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. It was out of line."

"Oh, don't worry," he replied with a smile. "I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have pried."

"No, I can understand. You're Ino's friend t—now."

Naruto noticed the slip of the tongue, but chose not to comment.

"Sakura-chan," he said seriously, closing his book, "I know you don't like me much, but I really admire you. I wouldn't ask you out if I didn't. But if there is one thing yesterday showed me is that I barely know you.  
>I'd like to change that."<p>

Sakura blinked at the hand being shoved in front of her.

"I know you won't be my girlfriend yet, but do you want to be my friend for now?"

Sakura could just blink again at this. Yes, she would like to get a friend, but…

"Look, if there is one thing you don't have to worry about is me and Sasuke. He is only interested in my body and I don't like him that way."

Sasuke couldn't resist a snort at that. Sakura quickly turned to him, surprised.

"What? It's not like there's anything more interesting to do right now than listen."

With a giggle, Sakura shook Naruto's hand.

"The offer's open for you too, bastard."

"Hn," was his only answer.

"It feels so good to see my little genin getting along…" came a happy voice.

Turning to its source, it was no less than the person they were waiting for.

"YOU'RE LATE!" yelled Sakura.

"My milk was bad and they ran out on the store I usually buy… Naruto, why are you reading about tarot?"

"My Personas are based on the Major Arcana," he answered, putting the book inside his jacket.

"I see," Kakashi answered. He had no idea what relation tarot would have with a Yamanaka jutsu, but it's not like he as a Yamanaka anyway. If Naruto said so…

"Well, I am glad to see your dedication to bettering yourself. Just try not to become overdependent on just one technique."

"Yes, sensei!"

"Good. Now come with me, my cute little students, we have missions to take."

His lateness forgotten for now, the three genin followed him towards the Hokage's tower.

IIIII

Kakashi hid his mirth at their faces behind his book. The Hokage and Iruka didn't make such an effort.

"So… _those_ are the missions we can take as our first one?"

Three nods answered Naruto's question.

The blond blinked.

Then he looked at his teammates.

"We waited almost an hour to take _these_ missions?"

"Yes Naruto. We are as annoyed as you," Sakura answered.

"Worry not, Naruto-kun. Despite your lateness, I saved the best ones for you."

Naruto looked at the old man's smirking face. Then at the missions available.

Only being held aloft by Kakashi prevented him from trying to tear up all the Hokage's face.

IIIII

"Are you calmer now?" Kakashi asked the bound and gagged Naruto.

He had been forced to do this when a fox that turned into mist started tearing the office apart. With wind blades.

The Hokage took it in stride though.

He idly noted how he could barely detect chakra from the blades. Probably the reason he had not noticed the attack during the test until he was almost hit. It was barely a kunai strike, but it was at a distance and hard to detect, could be deadly if used right.

He also took notice that Naruto seemed tired after using five of the wind blades, barely managing a sixth if he was right. Probably a time to rest would be a good idea?

"I must admit, we didn't expect you to be _that_ annoyed by it."

"…"

"I mean, Sasuke and Sakura were just as annoyed, but didn't try to make a scene."

Said two were just watching the exchange.

"…"

"Silent treatment eh?"

"Kakashi-sensei, he is still gagged."

"Oh. Right."

IIIII

"Well, it has been a productive day," said Kakashi as they arrived back to their training ground. The three genin did not share his good cheer. "I'm thinking tomorrow we train a bit before taking missions, since you guys are good enough to take three a day. You are dismissed."

"Wait!" Naruto said desperate, before the older male could body-flicker away.

"Hum? Did you want something Naruto?"

"Yeah! Well, two things actually."

Kakashi was curious. Judging by the other two standing there with them, so were they, but Naruto didn't seem to care.

"Well first, Kiba mentioned his sensei being good at genjutsu, and I was wondering if I could take a few lessons with her if she wouldn't mind…"

'Ah, Yuhi Kurenai,' thought Kakashi, 'I doubt he'd have any chance with his chakra control, but she knows more about genjutsu than me.'  
>"Well, as long as it doesn't interfere with <em>our<em> lessons and she agrees, I see no problem. Check with her about the others too, Sakura has some good chakra control and Sasuke's family was said to be good at it. What else?"

"Well… Ino said that I have to increase my morning exercises from time to time, but not too much… Could you help me with this?"

"Hm… I'm not the best person for physical training of others, but I know someone who can help you. Tomorrow morning, around seven, go to training ground six and tell the jonin there I sent you and why.  
>Anything else? Anyone?"<p>

Since no one said anything after about five seconds, Kakashi shunshined away.

"Well, that was a waste of time."

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled at him, "We were doing an important work for the village!"

"We were doing _chores_, Sakura-chan. Some civilians do that for extra money. We are doing it as our _day job_!"

"I'm surprised I'm saying it, but I agree with the deadlast." Sasuke said as he left for the day.

"Hey bastard, don't forget! Training ground six, at seven!"

As Sasuke left, Naruto turned to a training post and summoned something that looked like a small fairy in a blue leotard, who promptly threw her hands forwards and a small lightining appeared arced towards the post, ending with a bang and a mark.

"What was that?" Sakura asked, curious.

"Oh hey Sakura-chan, I'm just trining with my Personas, thought you'd leave with Sasuke since we have nothing to do with the others today."

"Oh, I was going, but then I saw the fairy—"

"Pixie, actually," he corrected automatically.

"I thought each person only had one Persona?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. But it seemed from what Igor said that I got a special ability that lets me change them because… I'm good at making friends or something? I didn't really get much why…"

"Uhm… okay," Sakura said, a bit disappointed by his lack of knowledge. "I'll be going then. Bye Naruto."

"Bye Sakura-chan."

Naruto continued training a bit, but it was more automatic now. _Why_ did he get that ability?

And why did his mind go to that blue butterfly when he thought about it?

IIIII

"Do you have some space?" Naruto asked tiredly.

Shikamaru didn't move, but Chouji went a bit to the side so he could sit between them.

Naruto just threw himself to the ground, then turned around to see the sky.

"You were right, Shikamaru," he said after a minute, "this _is_ relaxing."

A murmur of agreement was the only answer he got.

"What are you three doing?" sounded the sad voice of Ino after a while.

Shikamaru sighed. "Watching the clouds."

"We are supposed to be training!"

"_You_ are the one that said we should train. Chouji and me are perfectly fine."

"We are supposed to be a team! Not only that, we have _family combinations_ to train!  
>And you?" she said turning to Naruto, "Why are you with them in this?"<p>

"Actually, I just finished training summoning my Persona until my head felt like it would explode, and decided to ask the guys where Kiba was so we could ask his sensei about that genjutsu training. But, well, this is relaxing and just what I needed."

"_You_ get tired?" Chouji asked, surprised.

"Makes sense." Replied Shikamaru. Personas are a Yamanaka jutsu, so they are probably a very charged Yin chakra, probably the closer possible to pure spiritual energy. Naruto is physically resilient, but mentally is another story."

"Actually," Ino said, "the jutsu is just to unlock them, Personas themselves are supposedly from before even the Sage of Six Paths if the family archives are to be believed."

Naruto blinked.

"Since when did you know that?"

"Well, since someone had to come and unlock it and then become my friend, I did my best to learn about it as much as I could." Ino said, a bit embarrassed of being put on the spot.

"Thank you Ino." Naruto said sincerely.

"Nah," she waved it off, "it's just what friends are supposed to do.  
>Well, the files did say that summoning Personas was mentally taxing and too much could make you feel it physically, so I guess you earned your rest. Now, you two…"<p>

Naruto tunned out her rant as he fell asleep in the grass.

IIIII

"Hey, Naruto! Wake up!"

Naruto opened his eyes slowly and looked around. Besides team ten, there was team eight and a pretty woman in white and red that was probably their sensei.

"Oh, hey guys."

"Hey Naruto!" Kiba answered. "Heard you weren't feeling well?"

"Just trained a bit too much. That rest was just what I needed." Naruto answered, stretching his arms.

"So this is the friend of yours who you wanted me to give lessons in genjutsu?" the woman asked neutrally.

Hearing that, Naruto jumped up.

"Hey there! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage!"

"Yuhi Kurenai," she replied with a small smile. "I assume we can begin right now?"

"Uhm," he said, uncomfortabe, "Kakashi sensei that if you agreed I had to bring my teammates to have a chance too, so…"

"So I guess you'll get a bit of an advantage." She interrupted with a blink.

Naruto's smile widened.

IIIII

"I'm going to be frank, you are not said to have the best chakra control. And chakra control is supposedly very important in genjutsu."

"Supposedly?" Naruto asked, confused.

"The reason is that to use genjutsu you need to control with your chakra the one on target's brain. By affecting that chakra, you can affect their senses. Now, if you fail to do so, it will simply not work, not cause any damage to either of you besides the waste of chakra.  
>The thing is, people thing control is all that is needed to be able to convert our chakra with your target's. It helps, since you have to put the chakra there in the first place, but it is in fact a separate talent.<br>So, I am going to teach you the basics, and you train with it and with your chakra control until you are able to use them properly, then you look for me for more lessons. What do you think?"

Naruto nodded. One more thing to train with, but at least she told him straight up what his problem with it would be and how to fix it.

"Very well. We will begin with detection and canceling so you do not fall prey to enemy ones, then I'll give you a basic one to train with."

Naruto nodded.

"Very well. Now, first I will explain in words so you know what to do in practice. When you are under a genjutsu, usually…"

IIIII

"Wow, I never thought I'd see Naruto that quiet for a lecture…" said Ino from the sidelines.

"He is a practical person," Shkamaru replied "He can see how genjutsu would be useful, so he wants to learn it. He can't see how lots of things in class would be useful, so he wants to skip them."

"But he skips so much. Many of the things he skipped _are_ useful."

"I said he is a practical person, I never said he is a smart practical person."

He didn't bother dodging Ino's hit to his head.

IIIII

In the end, it wasn't that much. Naruto… wasn't that good detecting genjutsu, and much worse dispelling them, but according to Kurenai most were at his age, he just had to train until he could feel it instinctively.

No surprise in his using either. He tried on both Kurenai herself and then on a shadow clone, who supposedly would be easier to affect with one due to his chakra being originally the same, but he didn't have the control to send his chakra to its head yet.

But, he had the basics. All he could do now was train and improve his chakra control like he was told.

And to make things worse, _trying_ to make a genjutsu was as mentally tiring for him as using a Persona to attack, so he had just gone through two exhausting trainings one after the other with just a small rest.

So, it was a once more mentally tired Naruto that went home and threw himself on the bed.

IIIII

"Guh…"

Naruto pushed himself to stand up that early, and went to prepare his breakfast. He had given himself half an hour before he had to go there, but didn't cout on still being that tired…

Oh well, it was going to be physical training. He was always good with those, so it would also help him relax his mind.

And so it was that Naruto arrived at Training Ground Six and met his teammates…

…and someone with the biggest eyebrows he had ever seen!

"Yosh! I am Rock Lee, Konoha's beautiful Blue Beast! It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"Uh… oh, hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, this is Haruno Sakura and giggles is Uchiha Sasuke."

He quickly found himself on the ground from a punch on top of the head by Sakura.

Lee decided to ignore this.

"You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen! Please go out with me! I will protect you for the rest of my life!"

"No!" Sakura replied without even thinking and tried to hide herself behind Sasuke.

The other boy slumped instantly.

Standing up, Naruto couldn't help asking…

"If you are the _blue_ beast, why do you wear green?"

"Don't bother," replied a girl's voice coming from the woods of the training ground. "He and Gai-sensei are weird like that…"

What came from the woods were a girl with her hair in two buns, a long-haired boy that was probably related to Hinata with those eyes…

"Your words wound me, Tenten-chan!"

…and what Naruto would be pretty sure was a Rock Lee clone if it wasn't older.  
>Did that mean Rock Lee was the clone?<p>

"Excuse me, are you the jonin Kakashi-sensei asked us to talk with?" Sakura asked politely.

"Ah, so you must be the youthful new students of my eternal rival!" Not-Lee-Clone said. "I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Blue Beast! What do you need me for, my youthful friends?"

That said, he gave a smile that made his teeth sparkle.

"Uhm…" Naruto… had no words anymore.

"Kakashi said you could aid us in our physical training." Sasuke said bluntly

"Of course!" Gai answered energetically. "Not wanting to brag but as a jonin specialized in taijutsu I am considered one of the foremost experts in physical education in our village.

Sasuke gave a satisfied nod at that.

Sakura gave a shy nod at that.

Naruto…

"Wait, so is Rock Lee your clone? Or son or something?"

"Nope!" Gai answered. "In fact, we are not related at all but in our desires to spread the greatness of taijutsu and the Flames of Youth!"

"And why did you two say 'blue'? You guys wear green!"

Gai only gave a mysterious smile. Well, he tried making it mysterious. He looked more like constipated.

"Are you feeling okay?" Naruto asked worried.

"I am feeling great, Naruto-kun, thank you for asking! Well, I need to have a clear understanding of your true abilities if I am to push them to their limits and beyond, so why don't you go have a spar with Tenten-chan?"

"Sure, Gai-sensei."

"Oh, oh! Let me Gai-sensei!"

"I am sorry Lee, but you and Neji-kun are good enough to fight them, but not good enough to hold back to their level to properly evaluate them yet. Also, as a weapon specialist Tenten-chan needs more experience in unarmed combat to be well-rounded."

"I understand, Gai-sensei! I am sorry, Tenten-chan."

"Nah, don't worry about it."

Naruto was a bit nervous, to be honest. He was being observed on his taijutsu skills by someone considered a specialist, and against someone trained by him.  
>Should he use Slime? No, that would give him an unfair advantage. This was supposed to be just to see what he could do. No need to go all out.<br>Besides, he just knew he was going to be humiliated enough without having gone all out in his head to shame him even more.

IIIII

Tenten was brutal. For not a taijutsu specialist, she was quick, she hit hard, she either evaded or parried most of his attacks and had the experience to change from defense to offense in less than a second. Pure technique.

Naruto was a brawler. No finesse, no control. Pure instinct. He hit hard and aimed kind of to the right places, but he was predictable, telegraphing his moves. He also had no concept of "defense", tanking most hits, even in critical places. But he had endurance, and could make surprising movement from time to time.

One couldn't hit, the other shrugged off most hits. And as much as Naruto wasn't good, evading him was tiring Tenten.

"That's enough Tenten-chan, Naruto-kun!" said Gai when they reached the two minute mark. "Take a breather Tenten-chan, we still have to evaluate the others."

"So, how did I do?" asked Naruto, still full of energy.

"You need training in defending and in stopping telegraphing, and probably getting a fighting style would help you." Gai said seriously, deflating Naruto. "But it is much better than expected from a recent academy graduate, congratulations!" Gai's smile and thumbs-up lifted Naruto's spirits a little.

Next it was Sakura's turn. She was… okay-ish. She had the basic forms of the academy style memorized, but she was a bit slow, not having put it to instinct yet to be able to use it for defense properly, and did not have much energy either. But boy, when she hit, she hit _hard_…

"You need to build up your speed and endurance. Also a new fighting style you would be more suited at. You are good at the basic one taught at the academy, but 'good' won't cut it on the battlefield."

Then it was Sasuke's turn. He had technique. He had speed. He had fierceness. He adapted the academy fighting style to his instead of the opposite. But as good as he was, Tenten was more experienced, and had more endurance even after two other battles.

"You are good. But reckless and impatient, going for offense and sacrificing defense. For Tenten-chan it was a valid tactic, but if you find an opponent faster than you you will leave too many openings. We will work on your defenses and your endurance mostly."

"But Gai-sensei, sir," Sakura interrupted, "Kakashi-sensei only sent us here to get us advice on our usual morning exercises…"

"Which you will get right now! But trust me, he will not complain if I use my specialization to help his youthful students reach their full potential!"

"Makes sense…" Naruto said, crossing his arms with a smile. "So, so! What about our morning exercises?"

"Well, I have an idea of what exercises you need more, but not in your current endurance. So, let us start a youthful run around the village so I can evaluate it. Come on you too, my youthful students."

"Yes Gai-sensei!" said Lee enthusiastically.

"Hmf," replied Neji, unenthusiastic.

"Ung…" groaned Tenten, as she stood from her well-deserved rest.

Sakura was feeling tired enough from her battle with the weapon specialist, but seeing the serious look of Sasuke and the carefree smile of Naruto, she knew she had to push forward.

IIIII

"I will have your new exercise schedule ready for tomorrow. Now everyone, you have a half an hour to rest before it is time for our training to begin. Why don't you spend it getting along?" Gai said with a smile.

Leaving the kids to their devices, Gai approached a tree a bit further from them and sat on the ground as if jut observing.

"You got a nice batch here, my youthful rival!" he said apparently to no one.

"I can only talk about their taijutsu, but let me tell you what I see. Sakura-chan is a bit behind, but has lots of potential in damage-dealing with enough training. Sasuke-kun should probably invest in speed training, he is very nimble. Naruto-kun…"

The jonin took a deep breath.

"Naruto-kun has a mountain of potential, to be frank. He has loads of endurance, and an amazing recovery time. His fighting style is a little sloppy, well actually very, and looks poor, but that is because he adapted the academy style to his own. He is chaotic and would be unpredictable with a polished fighting style that suits him… but the way that it is it overly-telegraphs. I'd suggest you teach him one that suits him better as soon as possible, or at least help him polish his.  
>But what really worries me is that after a while he stopped caring about avoiding being hit and just tried to hit harder. That is a good strategy in spars, but if he gets this complacent in actual combat it will just get him killed.<p>

That is all for now. See you later I guess?"

No words were said, but a couple leaves fell from the tree's far side.

IIIII

"Don't worry, you guys went pretty well." Tenten tried to comfrt the members of team seven. "And even if you hadn't, you are here to get better, right? So now we know what to work on."

"I still lost." Sasuke said sourly.

"Pretty sure it was a tie."

"It wasn't a victory."

Naruto mouthed "big fish small pound" behind him to her. Then ducked to evade a punch from Sakura, who was rolling her eyes.

Tenten smirked, and decided to tease him a bit.

"Yes, not like you've just left the academy while I have had over half a year by a taijutsu specialist."

Sasuke looked at her with anger for a bit, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"You are right. I am sorry. You have much more experience and training than me, so it is just fair you are better for now."

Tenten just smiled.

"But just a warning, in the next six months I will be better in taijutsu than you."

"Oh, it wouldn't be surprising," Tenten replied with a smile, "I'm a weapon specialist. It's the other two on my team you should be looking out for."

Naruto couldn't help laughing at Sasuke's surprised expression.

"Haha, I like you, Tenten. Wanna be my friend?"

Sasuke and Sakura got such a whiplash from the change in mood that Sakura actually fell down in surprise.

"Sure!" the girl answered without a hint of a pause.

Meanwhile, Sakura found a hand in front of her, and looking up came face to face with a blushing Rock Lee.

"Let's go on a date! I will protect you until I die!"

"Not again Lee…" Tenten said under her breath, palming her face.

"What? No!" Sakura screamed, surprised, and crawled backwards to hide herself behind the closer teammate's legs… which just happened to be Naruto's.

"Dude, too strong," Naruto said as a reprehension. "There, there," he patted Sakura's head.

And was promptly punched as the girl stood up and this time used Sasuke as a shield.

"Oh, I can already tell you guys will be fun to have as friends." Tenten said with a smile at the scene.

"Hmf," Neji let out, looking to the side as if disgusted with the scene.

"Hey Tenten, who's the chatterbox? Is he mute or something?"

"I am Hyuga Neji," he answered pompously.

"Oh, I see. Not mute, just an asshole."

"Say what you like. It is clear to me you are just a thug with no future beyond mediocrity."

"Ouch, that hurt me man," Naruto replied. "Right here," he added, thumping his chest.

"Save your jokes for those who care for them."

"Where's the fun in that?" Naruto answered with a wide smile.

Neji just kept walking away.

"Guys, I have a mission now." Naruto said to his team, still observing Neji.

"We know Naruto," replied Sakura. "Becoming Hokage."

"…Guys, I have a second mission now."

"And that is?" asked Sasuke, not really curious but knowing Naruto would annoy them until someone did it.

"I'm going to prank that guy until he stops being such an ass."

"I approve of this youthful mission!" Lee said, enthusiastic.

"Yup, really fun." Tenten added to her previous thought.

IIIII

"Ok, I got to ask… why do you look so much like Gai-sensei? Are you related?"

"No, Naruto-kun. Gai-sensei is my idol! He saved me from my own weakness and lack of confidence and gave me the boost that I needed to get where I am! That's why I strive to prove that his trust was not misgiven!"

"What do you mean?"

Lee looked up, a faraway look in his eyes.

"When I graduated the academy… I was almost worthless. Bad at everything, barely passing, the only thing I had that was halfway competent was my taijutsu.  
>Gai-sensei promised me that, if I worked hard, that halfway competency could turn into my greatest strength. That if I gave it my all in training…"<p>

He looked down sharply at his own teammate behind his back.

"I would be able to defeat even someone considered a genius."

Neji crossed his arms at those words, as if saying "I'd like to see you try and fail."

Naruto looked at the two.

"You know what, you're a good person too Lee. Want to be my friend too?"

"Of course, Naruto-kun! You can never have enough friends!"

IIIII

Naruto dragged behind a bit as his team went back to their own training ground. It felt a bit like cheating on his new friendships now, to be frank, getting powers from befriending people…

Would the ones not already in the know feel betrayed if they found out? He could only hope it would be mitigated by the fact he actually wished to be friends and the Personas being just a bonus…

With a deep sigh, he drew his cards. It didn't take hm long to find one of his two new friends. Funny, she already had a card, but Hinata and Shino didn't. Was she just more open, or were the other two more reserved?

"Well, Tenten was quick, but again she is Magician. It means action, initiative, self-confidence… Yup, it fits Tenten from what I saw."

He concentrated on the Arcana, and summoned…

"Agathion!"

What appeared was a slightly ornate vase, with some sort of blue imp hiding inside.

"Agi!" Naruto proclaimed, and a ball of fire was shot from the imp's mouth.

"Ok, ok… Let's see what Lee is now…"

Fortune… makes sense, for all the meanings of the cards in term of personality it is for people who fight _against_ fate and seize their own destiny in spite of it. Since Lee was focused on proving himself despite his lack of ability on the less esoteric ninja arts…

"Let's see, you get me… Empusa!"

Some sort of blue sphinx with equine legs and tail appeared, and shot a beam from her mouth. The tree it hit had a bit of it covered by ice.

Naruto was surprised by it, so, just calling the Persona was enough to use the technique? That was faster.  
>Seemed like training with them was already showing results.<p>

At the same time, this was the third Persona he had with a fire weakness of his five, only Pixie, who had no weakness and a resistance to electricity, and Agathion, which absorbed it, did not have such weakness.

He just knew he would have problems with fire in the future…

Sasuke had no idea why Naruto was giving him the evil eye this time, but he responded in kind.

IIIII

"He is late again!" Sakura complained. "But for once, I don't care. My legs _still_ feel like jelly."

Sasuke didn't reply. He wouldn't say out loud that he was almost the same.

"Naruto, why are you doing this?"

Naruto was sitting down and holding a leaf to his forehead with chakra.  
>It was a chakra control exercise they learned a long time ago at the academy.<p>

"I was told yesterday that my chakra control is really bad. I'm trying to make it better while we wait. You guys could try too? It's not like you'll lose anything."

Sasuke said nothing. After all, what could he say? Wordlessly, he sat down with a leaf of his own. An excuse to rest his legs was just a bonus.

Seeing both Sasuke and Naruto doing it, Sakura just shrugged in a "why not" gesture and joined them.

And that was the scene Kakashi saw when he arrived.

Blink.

Blink.

"Well, I won't say this is an unwanted development, but… Stand up everyone, the teacher has arrived!"

"Yay…" Naruto said sarcastically while standing up, eyes crossed in an attempt not to let the leaf fall as he did so.

"You're late." Sakura said as she stood up, now better rested and thus without any effort to keep the leaf in place.

Sasuke just stood up, without saying anything. He wasn't as bad as Naruto, but was far from having as easy a time as Sakura.

"Well, as much as it is a good thing to train chakra control while resting your body, and even better because Naruto really does need it, it is time for our team training to start officially," Kakashi said, ignoring the accusations with ease. "So, why don't we have a short mission?"

IIIII

"Of course, my dear High Priest." Said the man with a deep bow. "I would be honored to be gifted with a better way to spread the name of the Lord."

"Excellent. The Lord is happy that you are a worthy servant." The younger man answers, purple eyes glinting in true happiness. "Do your best so that this happiness is kept."

"There is no doubt about it. After all, the Lord represents all I believe about humanity itself…"

"Ah, yes," answers the priest, "then when your shift is over, follow our Lord's emissary until the site prepared for the ritual. Do not worry, it is not far from here."

As the words are said, a black butterfly leaves the priest's staff and rests on top of a painting on the wall. The slightly older man's eyes follow said flying until it's landing, before looking back at the smiling face of the priest.

"I will be waiting there," the priest finishes, and donning his straw hat leaves the place through the front door.


End file.
